


Happy 42nd, Dean

by WaywardDestielTrash



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Baking, Birthday Fluff, Castiel is Jack Kline's Parent, Dad Cas is Best Cas, Dean Winchester's Birthday, Dean has a wild west-themed party becayse I said so, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff, Gen, M/M, The CW can suck my rod, everyone is happy, the confession happened but absolutely nothing after it including Cas' death, they have a nice house fite me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:08:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28967349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaywardDestielTrash/pseuds/WaywardDestielTrash
Summary: Dean's never thought his birthday was a big deal, but this is no ordinary birthday.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	Happy 42nd, Dean

**Author's Note:**

> Oh man I haven't written fic in literal years god help me
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a character I may be a bit too attached to and who lives so close to my heart, Dean Winchester you deserved so much better and by god if the CW won't give it to you I WILL
> 
> Might be a lil OOC but whatever

The sun was already up when Dean slowly awoke.

He laid mostly still for a moment, blinking to clear his sleepy eyes and gaining his mental bearings as he ran a hand idly through his hair. The sun grew oppressively bright for a moment, forcing a squint as he sat up and stretched. Dean had noticed some time ago that he was beginning to feel stiffer in the mornings than he had years ago. _Must be my old age catching up to me_ , he thought with a bemused smirk, as he reached for his phone to check the time.

[8:00 AM, JANUARY 24]

 _Speaking of old age_ , he thought, raising an eyebrow as he read the date.

His birthday. His 42nd, to be exact. In truth, he didn't know how to feel about it. Growing up they'd never really made a big deal out of birthdays, and he wasn't overly inclined to begin now. Besides, with the life of constant hunts and danger Dean had led for so long, he never dreamed he'd even make it this long. 42. Damn. It seemed almost like a miracle.

Deciding that was enough of the introspection, Dean pulled himself out of bed and went through the motions of his morning routine: he brushed his teeth and got a shower, then threw on jeans and one of a zillion different band t-shirts, and finally a flannel shirt after some debate. After one last glance at the nearest somewhat-reflective surface, and with a brief thought that it was way too quiet for this hour, he left his room and started down the hallway.

 _Damn_ , he thought, brow furrowing, _where the hell is everyone?_

He peeked into Sam's room, noticing the door was open. Nobody was there.

He looked into Jack's room. Empty as well,

Surely Cas would be there to greet him.

But nope, his room was also empty.

Dean paused for a minute, thoroughly confused and even a little concerned, and quickened his pace as he headed in the direction of the living room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This isn't as easy as the recipe made it sound," Jack said, futilely wiping at his forehead with the back of a flour-covered hand as he looked at the lopsided pie crust he was attempting to roll out.

Jack seemed discouraged, but Cas couldn’t help but smile anyway, filled with an odd sort of fatherly pride. “As long as the crust is generally the right size it should be fine. Dean would never turn down pie on the basis of aesthetics.”

Sam, who was busy mixing ingredients for apple pie filling in a large bowl, couldn’t help but laugh. “No kidding. When we were young I once tried to bake him a cake for his birthday and it was barely even recognizable as a cake. For a minute I thought he was going to devour it whole.”

“That does sound like him,” Jack said with a smile, as he carefully put a little more flour on the crust and went back to evening out the shape.

“Sam?” they heard Dean call from a distance, “Cas?”

Cas felt his heart quicken at hearing Dean’s voice, and set down the decorations he was tinkering with. “I’ll keep him distracted,” he said as he walked out of the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dean’s confused expression dissolved as soon as he laid eyes on Cas, giving way to a broad grin. “I was beginning to wonder if you guys all ran away!” he said with a laugh.

"Not at all," Cas said, unable to suppress a smile at seeing Dean's face light up. "Happy birthday, Dean," he said, pulling him into a tight hug.

Dean hugged Cas with a particular tenderness that never failed to melt the angel's heart. "Thanks Cas," Dean said, letting himself lean his head into the warm space between Cas' neck and shoulder.

Suddenly Dean broke the hug and his confused look returned. "So you're here, where're Sam and Jack?"

"They're, uh, busy. In the kitchen," Cas said, not wanting to lie, but trying to keep their plan under wraps.

"Sounds good to me," Dean said as he started towards the kitchen, "I'm starving!"

To his surprise, Cas suddenly stepped to position himself between Dean and the door. "Um, you might not want to go in there right now,” he started, sounding flustered,”That is, uh, you wouldn’t want to ‘spoil the surprise’, as the saying goes-”

“Cas,” Dean said, “I appreciate the thought, but we never made a big deal out of birthdays growing up. It’s just another day, honest.”

“I’m well aware,” Cas said in his trademark matter-of-fact tone, “But it’s not the only reason today is special.”

That earned Cas a look of surprise from Dean. “Oh?”

“It’s not a typical birthday. It’s the first you’ve celebrated where we don’t have a case or some other threat looming overhead. And it’s the first since…” Cas trailed off as he gently took Dean’s hand into his own and stared into the hunter’s eyes.

Cas didn’t have to finish the sentence. Dean softly brushed his thumb over Cas’ hand and smiled tenderly as he gazed into those big blue eyes. He could feel a faint flush rising to his cheeks. Those three simple words--”I love you”--still echoed in his ears.

“That’s pretty damn special,” Dean agreed. “Maybe a celebration is in order after all.”

That prompted from Cas the big smile that Dean so loved to see, with his entire face lit up.

“How about we go for a walk?” Dean said.

Cas squeezed Dean’s hand. “I’d like that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I think they went somewhere else,” Jack said after a while as he studied the recipe for homemade Rice Krispie Treats. “I guess that means the distraction worked?”

“I don’t doubt it,” Sam replied with a knowing look. “Good thing too. Once we get the pie out of the oven we still have to get the Rice Krispies ready and finish decorating. Cas should be able to buy us enough time.”

Jack started getting ingredients and set them by the stovetop, and it wasn’t until Sam felt an odd heat and looked towards the source that he realized Jack had turned on the burner without setting anything on it. He quickly reached over and turned the stove off, prompting a baffled look from Jack.

“How about we swap for a little bit,” Sam said hastily, “You worked so hard on the pie, after all,” he added, trying to soften the blow. “ These decorations need nice places to hang up.”

Jack seemed to accept that and went to work sifting through the cut-outs and decals they’d picked up in secret at the party store: silhouettes of cowboys on horseback with pistol in hand, some desert cacti for good measure, and what wild west scene would be complete without bottles of suspicious concoctions with huge X’s on the labels?

“Dean _really_ seems to like cowboys,” Jack said as he started taping things to the wall. “Where does it come from?”

Sam smirked. “Probably watched one too many old westerns on TV growing up,” he said. “I sometimes start to think he likes them a little bit too much, but hey, it makes him happy.”

Jack looked over at Sam, who was stirring ingredients for Rice Krispies in a pot. “Are you sure you don’t need any help with that?”

“I’m… I’m sure, thanks.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dean and Cas had slipped out through the back door, walking hand-in-hand along a worn trail. The sunlight was streaming down through the trees, filtered gently by the leaves overhead. The early morning chill had faded, but the dead heat of midday had yet to set in. In the distance birds were singing, and the sound of a faint rush of water made itself known.

“Seems brighter somehow, doesn’t it?” Dean said, squinting slightly as he glanced up at the sky. “Amazing what happens when you’re not fighting cosmic evil every other day.”

“You make a good point,” Cas replied, and Dean could swear he heard a hint of a _laugh_ in Cas’ voice.  
  


Dean was silent for a moment, looking around in near-amazement. “I never thought we’d get here, honestly. The sort of life we’ve lived, I thought for so long that… that it would always be one thing after another pushing us along, always a bigger fish, I guess. A bigger, badder bag of dicks to get rid of, you know? I guess I'm still getting used to the idea of… this. Peace."

Cas nodded quietly. "Thinking of retirement?"

Dean gazed off into the trees, deep in thought. "God knows I've thought about it. To be able to just, I dunno, take off to the beach. Watch the waves. Put my feet in the sand. Maybe get one of those drinks with the little umbrellas. It's not like we're the only hunters out there."

"You know I'll be by your side no matter what," Cas said. 

Dean felt a familiar flush come to his cheeks again. That unabashed earnestness Cas always seemed to have never failed to hit him right in the heart. He gently squeezed Cas' hand. 

"I'd be glad to have you by my side like this as long as I live."

 _Talk about a chick flick moment_ , he thought, but he didn't mind it so much, in truth. Keeping his feelings bottled up all the time had cost him too much over the years.

Dean absentmindedly looked at his watch and was surprised at how much time had passed. It felt like they'd only just gotten out there. 

"It might be time to go check on Sam and Jack," Cas said.

Dean smiled as they turned to walk back to the house. "You took the words right from my mouth."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dean and Cas walked back inside to find Sam and Jack waiting eagerly by the door, both beaming. They both wore cheaply-made cowboy hats that looked to be made of straw, and Jack playfully pulled a plastic six-shooter and pretended to pull the trigger, complete with his very best “bang!” sound effect.

Dean broke into laughter and pulled both Sam and Jack into the best bear hug he could manage. “What’s all this?” he asked, as Cas laid a hand on Dean’s shoulder.

“Part of the surprise,” Cas said cryptically, but with a smile on his face.

“Come see!” Jack said, all but pulling Dean into the kitchen wrist-first.

Dean almost couldn’t believe the scene that greeted him. Jack had arranged the decals and cutouts on the walls to look like a scene straight out of one of his beloved cowboy movies, and on the table was a fresh apple pie--complete with birthday candles--and a gooey pan of Rice Krispie Treats.

“Oh this is--” Dean started, unsure how to handle the joy that bubbled up within him, “You guys are-- you didn’t have to go through all this trouble, but this is one hell of a nice surprise. I don't know what to say.”

Sam clapped a hand on Dean’s shoulder. “Glad you like it! Believe it or not, this was all Cas’ idea.”

Dean looked over to Cas, who had apparently put on his very own straw cowboy hat when nobody was looking. The sight was _unbearably_ adorable. Cas picked up a party store bag and walked over to Dean. 

“There’s just one last thing,” Cas began as he took a small plastic badge out and pinned it to Dean’s flannel shirt. Dean beamed at it with pride: A silver star badge that had “Birthday boy” written on it in black letters. Cas looked into Dean’s eyes and put on his very best cowboy impression. “Howdy, _Sheriff,_ ” he said, flashing a smile and wink at Dean, who looked like he might just cry.

“Happy birthday, Dean,” Sam said, as he put a hat on Dean’s head.

“I _really_ don’t know what to say, guys,” Dean said as he took a seat at the table, delicious (if slightly lopsided) pie sitting enticingly close. “This is really, really fantastic.”

“You’re supposed to wish on candles, right?” Jack asked as he and everyone else also sat at the table. “What’re you going to wish for?”

Dean raised an eyebrow as he gazed at the small flames in thought.  
  
“I have no idea what I _could_ wish for,” he started, “There’s no more cosmic-celestial bullshit trying to kill us at every turn, nobody trying to write our stories for us, and most importantly I’ve got all of you. As far as what I want, that ticks a hell of a lot of boxes,” he said, as he gently placed a hand on top of Cas’ own.

“There must be _something_ ,” Sam said.

A smile slowly crept onto Dean’s lips. “... I just might know something.”

“What is it?” Jack inquired excitedly.

“Tradition dictates that I can’t tell you that,” Dean said playfully, “otherwise it won’t come true!”

With that, he blew out the candles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the day was spent talking and laughing, and Dean had of course roped all of them into watching Tombstone with him. _Again_ . Dean had showed off a bit by cooking a special dinner with all their favorites (he had insisted on doing _something_ for them in return), and by all indications, they were all absolutely stuffed by the end. At Jack’s suggestion, the four of them had sat down to play a few card games (like _real_ cowboys, as he had put it), and Sam had turned out to be quite the beast, winning most of the rounds (Dean was convinced he was hiding an ace up his sleeve). The hour grew late, and one by one they turned in for the night.

It was after eleven when Dean was changing into something more comfortable, getting ready for bed. Cas was already lying in Dean’s bed (read: hogging the covers), having decided to join him tonight. Finally, Dean climbed into bed next to Cas and settled in. Cas felt as warm as a furnace, and they quickly became cozy and content.

Blinking sleepily, Cas looked at Dean, hopeful. “Did you have a good day?”

Dean grinned and looked right back into those gorgeous blue eyes. “One of the best I’ve ever had.”

Cas smiled and took Dean’s hand. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“You know what I wished for?” Dean asked.

Cas raised his eyebrows. “You said your wish wouldn’t come true if you told anyone.”

“You have a point,” Dean replied. “How about I show you instead?”  
  
Before Cas could say anything in reply, Dean moved in closer to Cas and threw an arm around him before kissing his forehead gently.

“This,” Dean said, as if it were the most simple but obvious truth he could speak.  
  
Cas closed his eyes and pressed himself even closer. How many times over the years did he long for this? He still couldn't believe it. 

"I love you," Cas said.

Dean gently nuzzled his chin into Cas' perpetually messy hair. "I love you too, Cas. So much."

"Happy birthday, Dean."  
  
"The happiest."

  
  
  



End file.
